Fairytales
by shybookworm18
Summary: I thought it'd be cool to write an AU where Mia turns into a vampire and Phoenix has to deal with seeing his beloved as one of the undead. IDK.
1. Her Cellphone

Mia Fey had been dead for two weeks when Phoenix received the first text message at two in the morning. At first, he thought it was a technical glitch, maybe even Maya going through her sister's things and accidentally setting something off. Whatever it was, Phoenix felt a sharp pain shoot through him as he saw Mia's number had sent him a message. It was only a repeat of the last text she had sent him, but it hit too close to home for him. "_Please come over to the office at 9PM tonight. There's someone I want you to meet."_

He now knew she had meant her younger sister, Maya, which made the message hurt that much more. Phoenix didn't want to keep crying over Mia's death, didn't want to dwell on the future he might have had with her. He had spent the past two weeks in abject misery, unable to stop his sulking over her murder. After he had made sure Redd White would remain behind bars for his crime, he had helped Maya with the funeral arrangements. He even gave the opening eulogy at the event. The whole ordeal finalised Mia's fate, which Maya and Phoenix were only too aware of.

With a tired groan, Phoenix disregarded the message and turned his phone off for the night. He still had five hours before he had to wake up for work and he'd be damned if he didn't use that time to catch up on some much needed sleep. He hadn't been sleeping well lately with everything that had been going on. Suddenly he was very much alone and in charge of his own law firm. He didn't want his own law firm. He just wanted Mia back. He rolled onto his stomach to get comfortable as he slowly fell into a dreamless sleep.

He was woken up the next morning by the Steel Samurai theme song. He fumbled to turn off his alarm, the previous night's occurrence completely forgotten. After pulling on his trademark suit and making himself coffee, Phoenix made his way to the office. He ambled down the street with sluggish footsteps, not properly awake. But the nice thing about being his own boss, he mused as he walked, was the ability to set his own hours. He didn't have to worry about being late ever again. This thought put an unexpected spring in his step as he bounded down the street to the Wright & Co. Law Offices.

As he walked through the door, he was greeted at once by the ever-cheerful Maya. "Good morning, Nick!" The teenager was sprawled out on the office couch and watching the early morning episode of _The Steel Samurai _with rapt attention. She arrived before he did so often that it wouldn't surprise him in the slightest to learn she lived in the office. Phoenix would have made a playful quip about her taste in television, but with his ringtone, he wasn't one to talk.

"Hey, Maya," he replied through a loud yawn, which he stifled with his hand. Unlike his new assistant, Phoenix couldn't even hope to pretend to be a morning person. But he had to admit there was a certain satisfaction in waking up early. "How're you today?" He took a seat next to Maya on the couch, still clutching his travel mug of coffee.

The girl continued to watch the screen as he sat down beside her; she didn't want to miss any of the fictional action. Her eyes flickered over to catch a glimpse of him before answering his question. For a brief moment, Phoenix fretted she had guessed how broken up he was over Mia's death still, but Maya offered him another sunny smile as she said, "I'm okay. What about you?"

"I'm good," was his answer before taking another swig of hot coffee. The bitter drink burned his throat on the way down, but he didn't mind. Maya glanced over at him, as if about to say something, but returned her gaze to the Steel Samurai. He rose a quizzical brow at this odd behaviour; Maya didn't seem like the type of girl to censor herself. "What's up?"

She opens her mouth to say something, but closes it with a small shake of her head. A few seconds pass before she asks, "Do you know where Mia's cell phone is?"

This question takes Phoenix completely off guard; he's suddenly reminded of the text that had woken him up during the middle of the night. He had assumed it was a technical glitch, and still stood by that conclusion. He composes himself—his mouth had fallen open in surprise—and shakes his head. This question wasn't a well timed coincidence, and he was afraid she had received a text the night before, too. He took a sip of coffee to calm his nerves."No, I haven't seen it around. Why, uh, why do you ask, Maya?"

He might have imagined it, but the girl's eyes widen in surprise for a fraction of a second. She appeared to be thinking her next words very carefully. Phoenix offered up an explanation for her. This odd incident was like broken glass to both of their emotions, but he was going to do what he could so she wouldn't get too cut up over it. "Did you also get a text last night from her phone?" He purposefully said 'her phone' instead of 'her' to show Maya that it was just a bug, nothing more.

"Y-Yeah." For the first time since he's known her, Maya Fey looked anxious. It was a disturbing expression on her, but he imagined his own features echoed hers. It was only one text, but it still rattled him more than he would like to admit. It probably scared Maya more, considering how much closer she was to Mia than he had been. She broke the tense silence that had fallen over to two by asking, "You don't know where it is? I'd like to shut it off for good, you know?"

He nodded in understanding; he felt much the same way. He would rather not get any more texts from Mia's phone. It hurt too much to see that notification appear on his phone. Even if it was just a one-off occurrence, he didn't want to risk it. For his or Maya's sake. "We could look for it in her apartment after closing today and get rid of it. How does that sound?"

For his suggestion, he was rewarded with a bright grin from Maya as she clapped her hands together. She cheered up instantaneously as he offered a game plan for their shared problem. "That sounds great! Thanks, Nick."

Thus pleased with their plans, the attorney and the spirit medium went about their daily routine. Phoenix filed old papers and tidied up Mia's things while Maya found ways to amuse herself. She would be helping Nick on this latest case, but business was slow; there were no new cases for the duo to work on. Instead, she caught up on the Steel Samurai and lost herself in the fictional world of Neo Olde Tokyo while Phoenix cleaned the office. They would occasionally call out to each other, but other than that, the office was quiet. Five o'clock would come soon enough, but for now, the two were content with just politely pretending nothing was wrong.


	2. Her Apartment

"Maya, are you ready to go?" Phoenix asked as he slipped on his jacket in preparation to brave the chilly autumn night. All he wanted was to go to Mia's apartment, find her phone, and shut it off. He wondered why Maya hadn't simply canceled Mia's plan when she died, but he couldn't bring himself to ask. _This wasn't Maya's fault_, he reminded himself sternly. He couldn't blame Maya for her sister's phone sending out repeat texts. Besides, Maya was probably suffering more than he was in light of Mia's death. He had just been Mia's boyfriend, he could only imagine what her sister was going through.

Maya rose from the couch with a yawn, having just sat through a major marathon of _The Steel Samurai_ to catch herself up on the series. In Kurain, she didn't have access to cable television, which put a damper on her ability to watch her favourite show regularly. She stretched lazily and shot him a bright smile. "Yeah, I'm ready! Let me just get my coat!" The teenager padded over to the coat rack by the front door where her purple jacket was hanging and slipped it on while Phoenix made sure everything was secure and locked. He hated to have another break-in so soon after Mia's murder, even if he and Maya were going home for the night.

The pair tried to keep conversation going as they walked down the street; neither of them wanted to think about the task they had at hand. Phoenix attempted to distract Maya by asking about her show, which she responded to with enthusiasm over the latest story arch. Nick mindlessly admitted that he thought the Steel Samurai only ever had one plot. This remark earned him a steamed lecture from Maya about the intricacies of the overarching plot, which would last her right up until they were standing on what had once been Mia's doorstep. Maya dug her key out from her small purse and hesitantly unlocked the door.

Everything painstakingly reminded Phoenix of Mia from the tidy way the mail was piled on the coffee table to the stale scent of vanilla and lavender that permeated the apartment. It looked almost the same as all those times he had spent the night with Mia, but emptier. Maya was beginning the process of moving her sister's things back to Kurain. He stood in the middle of the room and gazed around at the familiar decor; he still couldn't believe she was gone. Maya, now immune to the nostalgia of her sister's old apartment, was systematically combing the area for her sister's cell phone.

Phoenix pulled himself from his thoughts to help Maya find the missing phone. While she was searching under the coffee table and between the couch cushions, he searched the usual places Mia was wont to keep her cellphone. He scanned the counter in her kitchenette and the nightstand in her bedroom. He even took to her closet to look inside of her jacket pockets. He wasn't surprised when he couldn't find it, but he wasn't going to give up. "Can't you just call her phone to see if it'll go off?" he finally called out when his search of her bathroom turned out fruitless.

"Don't you think I've tried that already?" she yelled back, perched precariously on a stepladder to search the bookshelf. Finding nothing, the spirit medium hopped down with a heavy thud and padded over to where Phoenix was currently searching under the bed. Maya leaned against the doorjamb, her arms folded across her chest as she watched the attorney turn the room over with an amused smile. When he turned to ask her about it, she explained, "It's been shut off for the past week."

They didn't spend more than a couple of hours going through Mia's belongings to find her phone, but it felt like an eternity of going through a lifetime of memories. When they couldn't find the device, Maya laughed it off nervously and said she must have brought it back to Kurain already. Phoenix raised an eyebrow to silently ask about the messages and the sad smile remained on her delicate features. "Pearly must have found it and started playing with it. That's all." Not wanting to argue about it, Nick nodded and quietly agreed with her explanation. He didn't want to think too much about it; in all honesty, the less he thought about Mia, the better for him.

After a quiet and relaxing dinner at the burger joint down the street, Phoenix walked Maya back to her own apartment building before making his way home. As he strolled through the chilly night air, he couldn't help but feel as if someone—or something—was watching him. He quickened his stride and could have sworn he heard another set of footsteps behind him. Nick didn't want to look back; he was too afraid of what he'd see if he did. He wasn't a religious or superstitious person, but he had a bad feeling that visiting Mia's old apartment wasn't the best idea. He made it home safely, but in his jumpy state of mind, every noise, every flicker of light, felt like something coming for him.

Disturbed by his walk home, Phoenix had difficulty falling asleep that night. No matter what position he was in, he couldn't get comfortable enough to drift off to sleep. When he finally did sleep, after hours of tossing and turning, he was awoken by a faint rustling coming from his window beside his bed. Phoenix had assumed it was his curtains swaying in the brisk autumn breeze when he remembered he had shut his window before going to bed. He sat up at once to see who or what was at his window when he saw her.

Mia Fey was sitting on his windowsill and looking down at him with an almost curious look on her face. She looked the same as when he had found her dead two weeks ago. Her skin was nearly translucent in the pale moonlight and her clothes were still splattered with her blood, which was now a cakey, dry dark brown. She met his gaze with the cool demeanour she had possessed in the courtroom, but this wasn't the Mia he had known. This Mia raised chills in his spine and left him speechless. She leaned down closer to him and cupped his cheek with one icy hand. He opened his mouth to scream and she fell backwards from his window. He woke up with a start.

That night would be the first night Phoenix dreamed about Mia since she had been murdered in her office. It was an unsettlingly vivid nightmare and he tried his best to block it from his memory. He wasn't going to go back to sleep anytime soon, so Phoenix decided to start his day earlier than usual. It was five in the morning, but he didn't care. If he went about his day like nothing had happened, the dream he had would fade from his conscious. Coffee in hand, he quickly made his way to Wright & Co. Law Offices to watch some Steel Samurai before Maya arrived to work.


End file.
